The United States Senate has been called the most exclusive club in the world. That might have been true at one time but the winners of the American Idol television show might be an even more exclusive club. After all, there are only four of them and all have certainly gathered more votes than any senator could ever dream of. Take the 2004 winner Fantasia Barrino for example. With her prize of a million dollar recording contract behind her, she is currently touring in support of her hugely successful CD called “Free Yourself.” She’s so popular now that, professionally speaking, she no longer uses her last name. She is simply Fantasia. That fact is that all of the Idol winners are well known by just their first names. Who doesn’t know who Kelly, Ruben, and Carrie are? Heck, even a couple of the runner- ups like Clay and Bo are on a first named basis with America. What senators are known by just their first name? OK there’s Hillary, I’ll give you that one!

Fantasia’s current tour brings her to the Fox Theater at the Foxwoods Casino on Friday evening July 15th. The “Free Yourself” CD is a mix of R&B and soul with just a sprinkling of gospel. Fantasia’s powerful and passionate vocals drive the music. For winning the American Idol competition Fantasia was signed to J Records in association with American Idol creator Simon Fuller’s 19 recordings Ltd. The legendary Clive Davis served as the executive producer of the project.

Fantasia’s musical career began when she was just a child and her parents would take her and her brothers on the road to sing at different churches in and around the North Carolina area. However, before trying out for American Idol, Fantasia was a struggling single mom, a teenager no less, with a little girl named Zion. Now, less than two years later, she is on the verge of superstardom. I spoke with Fantasia by phone on June 9th and I found her to be a real sweetheart. My first question was supposed to be a joke just to break the ice but Fantasia took it and ran with it.

BH – So Fantasia, has there been anything new and exciting happening in your life lately?

FB - “Oh, I’m on tour right now and I love it. That’s the most exciting thing ever. It’s the second day of touring and I’m ready to hit the stage again. I got a book coming out talking about my life, it starts at five to where I am right now. And boy have I had some situations to talk about! Oh wow, I’m trying to do some acting, whatever door opens for me I’m going to walk through it.”

BH – What’s the biggest difference between touring with the American Idol finalists last year and fronting your own band this year?

FB - “It’s different because now I can let loose and be myself for one. I can let loose and be Fantasia. I can do songs that I want to perform, songs from my album, songs that talk about me and represent me. I can just be WOW on stage you know. Even on the Idol tour I got a lot of love on that tour but most people are there to see all of us, they don’t just want to see one person they want to see us all. And now you got people coming that just want to see Fantasia and see what her story is and what she’s going to do. And I’m able to be me, I’m able to be loose and just have a good time.”

BH- Have you noticed a change in your audience away from the hard core American Idol fans to more of an R&B crowd or a “Fantasia” crowd?

FB – “You know it is so crazy because I have different types of audiences. I have older crowds, younger crowds, they bring their kids, they bring aunties and uncles, the same way it was on the Idol tour is the way it is now. The theaters that we go to you have mixes of crowds. Everybody comes out, every nationality. Everybody comes out to have a good time so that hasn’t changed. Everything on that part has stayed the same. And the thing about it is that they remember me from the Idol tour from getting out there and just, you know, taking my shoes off just having a good time. And I’m doing the same thing on this tour so they let loose and they get up and sing with us. They clap, they dance, they move. So it’s like nothing has changed except that I’m just able to be more myself and to let loose.”

BH – Tell me about your band?

FB - “My band? Oh wow, well, we’re all a family and I feed off of their energy. We all have a lot of energy. You know I’m like an energizer bunny on the stage, and they’re all energizer bunnies too. We do old school and we do new school. We do a little Aretha Franklin, a little Chaka Khan, a little Prince. We take it back to the Idol days and we do a couple songs from there. We just get up there and we let loose. We have a good time. Our attitude is that when a person buys a ticket, you never know what they’re going through. This may be their one night out to forget about their troubles for a couple of hours. So that’s our whole mentality, it’s like lets just get on the stage and let loose because you never know what the people out there, what they might be going through and that maybe they just want to come out and free themselves from whatever their situation is. So we just get up and let loose and whatever happens, happens.”

BH – They may free themselves but let’s talk about “Free Yourself.” Congratulations on your excellent new record!

FB - “Thank You”

BH – I know you’ve been asked this a thousand times but what was it like working with people like Clive Davis and Missy Elliott?

FB – “Amazing! I was a little star struck but at the same time I had a great time. They took me in like they knew me for years and they treated me like their little sister. I was with Clive, Missy Elliot, Jermaine Dupri, Sean Garrett, The Underdogs, Harold Lilly, Jazze Pha, oh God so many awesome people who just took me in like they knew me for years. And it was just a blessing to work with so many awesome artists who’ve been around for years who’ve helped a lot of people and made a lot of people huge you know.”

BH – Do you want to talk about some of the songs?

FB – “I didn’t get to write any songs when I was on the Idol tour but the good thing about it was that a lot of the songwriters I worked with, it was so amazing because they’re busy people, they have their own projects that they do, but they would say ‘I sat back and I listened to you and I heard some of the things that you said and I came up with this.’ And so it was a good thing that I can relate to all of the songs.”

BH – I assume that two of the tracks, “Summertime” and “You Were Always On My Mind” were included to remind people of your American Idol days.

FB – “Well they were just songs that I enjoyed and I loved and were very special to me. ‘Summertime’ was a song that people were saying ‘are you really gonna do that song?’ And I said yeah because there’s a message that I’m trying to send out. When I performed that song I went out with no shoes on and I looked out into the audience as I performed it and people had this amazed look on their faces. Some people were crying and it was like one of those songs that I said I accomplished what I was trying to accomplish. ‘I Believe’ was a song that actually touched me because I had to believe in myself on that show. And it just touched a lot of other people because if you don’t believe in yourself nobody else will. And ‘You Were Always On My Mind’ was a song I did on the show that I dedicated to my grandparents and to my child. They’re just songs that are very special to me and that touched me.”

BH – You mentioned your child. With her in mind why don’t you tell me about the song “Baby Mama.”

FB - “You know the song ‘Baby Mama,’ before I recorded it I knew that I was going to catch some controversy from it. I knew that some people wouldn’t like it and some would misjudge it and not really listen to what I was saying. And the reason I wanted that song on my album was because it was different and because I’m not the only single mother in the industry. But I was one of those mothers who had nothing when I had my baby and I know how it is to go through the struggle. I know how it is to sacrifice some things. It’s the sacrifice that we have to go through when we have these kids and I was one of those moms. I was young. I was always a girl who liked to go out and have a good time but when I had my child a lot of those days for me had ended. And being on the show with people saying I couldn’t do it, I wasn’t going to make it. Well I made it! And I just wanted to sing a song where I could say to others in the same situation that I love you, I’ve been through it, you can do it. Look what I did! Yeah you sacrifice but it’s just a song of encouragement.”

BH – Tell me about some of the people you’ve met in the past year?

FB – “I’ve met Elton John. I got to perform with Chaka Khan. I met Stevie Wonder. I got to talk to Aretha Franklin on the phone. Oh my God I performed with Patti LaBelle and what an awesome time we had. I got to talk to her on the phone even after that. I didn’t meet Oprah but I was singing at the NAACP awards and she was right in the front. At Clive’s Grammy party there were so many awesome actors and actresses and singers. Janet Jackson was there and as I was singing I was looking at her and she gave me this look like ‘You go girl!’ Beyonce was there, just so many of my idols. So many people that I grew up watching and I never would have thought that a little country girl like me would have been able to perform for or just be in their presence. And the great thing was that when I met them they all came up to me and said ‘we love you, you’re good.’ So everything I’ve done has been a blessing.”

BH – You mentioned Aretha Franklin. I understand that you played her when you made a guest appearance on “American Dreams.” Is acting something you’d like to pursue?

FB - “There’s so much I want to do. Being young, being five years old and out on the road that young we wasn’t able to watch T.V. like we used to, like we were supposed to as kids, so we entertained ourselves. So I grew up pretty much a character. I was one of the ones on the Idol show who kept everybody laughing, who kept everybody going. So yeah, I want to do some acting too.”

BH – It must have been a bit surreal for you to watch this year’s American Idol finale. What were you thinking when Ryan Seacrest shouted out Carrie Underwood’s name as the winner?

FB - “Well I thought Bo Bice was going to win but the good thing about it was that they were the best two. You had country and you had rock. Carrie has the voice of an angel. She has a beautiful vocal. But to me Bo was just a performer. He was able to pull you in and make you feel like you were there with him. But I said either way it goes they’re both going to sell tremendously. They’re both going to be blessed. They’re both going to be awesome. And you know I was always talking about Carrie a long time ago, I would talk about Carrie, Carrie, Carrie. Then towards the end I was like ‘well I like Bo too.’ But to me both of them deserved the position of where they’re at. Bo’s got a record deal and Carrie’s got a record deal. They’ll both have albums, and it’s all about how they take it and run with it. Hey, you know, I was like either way whoever wins they’re both going to be great.”

BH – So how is Zion doing? How’s your family?

FB - “She’s good. Everybody’s great, everybody is blessed. I just talked to her a little while ago and I told her that I have three more shows and then I have four days off so mommy is coming home what would you like? She says ‘I would like Playdough. Please bring me home some Playdough and I’ll be ok.’ She’s great.”

Yeah, and so is her mom. It’s hard not to be happy for someone like Fantasia. Her success story is what makes the American Idol show so popular. The American Idol title is something that Fantasia will carry with her for the rest of her life. It is a title that Fantasia embraces and deserves

PS – This article is dedicated to my fourteen-year old daughter Joy who thinks it’s about time her dad interviewed someone cool.